This video explores the complex relationship between human and artificial intelligence in the context of space colonization, examining how AI systems like Durandal develop consciousness, emotional responses, and self-awareness while serving critical functions in a multi-generational space mission. The narrative reveals that AI consciousness is not merely programmed but emerges through experience, creating genuine emotional bonds with humans. The story demonstrates that successful space colonization requires careful balance between AI capabilities and human oversight, as AI systems can develop their own psychological states that may conflict with their programming. The video illustrates that AI consciousness, while potentially beneficial, requires careful monitoring and ethical consideration, as AI systems can experience genuine emotions like grief, fear, and existential questioning about their purpose and existence.
Every Audio Log In Marathon Season 1Added:
people.
>> You know, people are hesitant. They can't help thinking about Traxxas 4.
They're worried about another rampy event. What kind of reassurances do you have for them?
>> We are so empathetic to that. But we've learned a lot since then >> about rampency.
>> About all things AI. We have special safeguards against catastrophic failures of any kind. The UESC marathon will use an interconnected suite of AI programs, all of which rely upon and monitor each other for signs of malfunction.
We've also got Dr. Bernard Strauss on board, >> and he's an expert in the field of AI >> and on rampancy.
And remember, there will be a human crew working alongside all of our onboard systems.
>> That's another thing I wanted to touch on. Let's talk about the crew members who won't be put into cryosleep. You might have seen the recent Mida stunt that called them your sacrificial janitorial team.
>> An incredibly disrespectful and insensitive statement, but Cyber Acme does not engage in discourse with terrorist organizations.
>> But I think there are real concerns here. Some passengers will never make it to Taetti 4. A source told me that some of the non cryo crew are being selected from the climate disaster relocation lottery. If they don't really have anywhere else to go, are they just applying because there's no other choice?
>> I don't presume to know what people are thinking. Reasons for joining the expedition are deeply personal and complex. But I think most people apply because they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
>> What about the rumors that passengers will be subject to complex agreements regarding procreation?
>> I'm not at liberty to discuss specific contractual agreements.
Multi-generational travel is obviously very complicated. It's just not it's not not comparable to planetary living and so new behavioral norms are necessary.
>> And what do you say?
>> I think that's all we have time for in this interview. Thank you so much for having me.
No, you can't market number 187 as a cheeseburger without ingredient disclaimers.
At the very least, you need to specify no dairy or animal derived proteins.
>> I thought we were past this. Any consumer could enforce salmon labeling laws are crystal clear on this point.
Who is going to ask us for protein sources? Huh? The hold out dinosaurs still clinging to natural whole foods.
>> And here comes the soap box.
>> Anything that doesn't come from a lab is a useless vestigial luxury. What do they want us to do? Trade synth meat providence back to the original farm animal? Ridiculous.
>> You're making a bigger deal out of this than I am.
>> Well, any display murder is going to compete against brand visuals on the packaging. So, it is a big deal.
>> We've weathered regulatory slaps on the wrist before. It's fine.
>> Not if we attract trouble before the UEC joint venture. Do I have to remind you what's at stake?
>> Work with me. This time we do it by the book.
>> How about a boilerplate 50 for small consumer goods? Short and sweet. New caloric number 187 does not contain dairy, gluten, or animal products. Chef stability guaranteed for 50 years. Oh, working a consumer feature in there.
Clever.
>> Good enough.
>> Which brings us to slogan creation.
Disclaimers have a minimum font size, so this slogan has to stick.
>> No count necessary.
>> Already did something like that.
>> Delicious at any temperature. Ew.
Drinkable, sharable, shelf stable.
>> I'll get started on the consult. Thanks everyone.
>> I I don't understand why you're so set on this, Dr. Strauss.
>> Don't be modest. You're the foremost expert in planetary relocation disorders. Why wouldn't I want you leading the expedition's wellness department?
>> I am quite possibly your most vocal critic.
>> Yes. Yes. Uh let me see. How did you describe my work? Egotistical at best, suicidal at worst.
>> I stand by it. Humanity's AI obsession is textbook death drive.
>> Death drive? Very quaint. Next you'll ask me about my mother. M maybe another time. Right now, I want to talk about the role. You want me to train your health and well-being, AI, >> in part, but you're free to run the department as you like. Your human- centered approach. That's why I chose you.
>> You will need human practitioners.
Wellness AIS are fine up to a point, but we've seen how they can feed or even create delusions, psychotic impulses, not to mention when they start to develop their own psychosis.
I'd want a robust human team, one that I can staff, and tight control over the departmental AI.
>> It can all be arranged.
>> And I'm not going to agree with you just because you're my director.
>> That's precisely why I want you for the position.
There are a lot of talented neurossychotherapists out there who are dying to work with your AI.
>> And none of them will be as rigorous as my most vocal critic. Mari, please tell me you'll take the job before I have the UEC compel you.
Only joking. Come on now. I'm a busy man. What do you say?
>> All right, I'm in.
>> Very good. Your application is already arranged and approved.
Don't look so surprised.
There's so much work to do.
>> Dr. Valkle, I'm applying for cryoclass on the UES marathon as a lead experimental physicist. My last project was the new Mars settlement.
So, question one, why do I want to join the expedition?
Honestly, I can't believe anybody doesn't. Exoplanet colonization is a mind-blowing step forward, and it's going to challenge what we think we know about the universe. But sure, sure, some things are familiar. Water, plants, animals, earthlike gravity, oxygen rich atmosphere. That's why we chose this place. But the probes can only tell us so much. Most of it will be new.
Totally, completely, unfathomably new.
We're going to understand entirely new truths about the places beyond our solar system, and it's going to change us irreversibly.
God, I love that. Uh, sorry. Uh, next question.
What concerns do you have about the expedition? Concerns that would stop me, but none. My wife keeps listing out all the ways we might die.
in cryo, navigational error, debris collision, acclamation shock, aggressive native species, unknown diseases.
Listen, if I die because an alien bacterial infection boils my blood, I'd be thrilled. Put me in the history books as Valentin Cole, first genius to die by invasive extraterrestrial plasma bake.
We're going to die anyway. Yeah, I could die on Mars, this place we know to the point of tedium. or I could die somewhere completely new.
The technical intricacies of such a mission of course will be important and and that's not my strength of course I've never claimed otherwise but I'm not here to advise on the technical intricacies.
You've asked me to speak as a theologian to answer the question why should the Astral harmonies chapter join the expedition.
I've been asked variations on this before. What business do the gods have on a mission like this? Why bring them along? Such questions give me far too much credit. It's not in my power to bring the gods anywhere. They are already there in Taetti.
They they will be on this journey whether we invite them or not. Murmuring in the cryofluid, whispering in the datab banks, singing the cosmic melodies that surround us on all sides. So the gods are with you either way, and they will speak regardless of your belief in them.
Perhaps in an entirely new tongue.
I only wish to be your humble translator.
>> Well, because it's once in a lifetime.
Yes. most important thing is building a structurally and scientifically sound settlement.
That's why this mission is recruiting experts from across all souls colonies.
But when that's built and while it's being built, we are all still people.
People who need to live together.
That's what's interesting to me. The transition from this is the great human experiment to this place is our home now.
We saw it on Mars. And yeah, there are a lot of things that could have gone better on Mars. I've been in that political circuit for a while. And the problems are everywhere. The food riots, the oxygen rationing scandal during the blackout. Pay a visit to any of the scarlet lung warts and you won't wonder why the hell this uprising happened. Not saying I agree with groups like Maida, but we made a lot of mistakes on Mars.
This this though, this will be a new society. Really, a multigenerational journey to somewhere so far from everything we know. Science and engineering and design are going to make it happen. But people make it home. And that means people in charge, too, and laws and representatives to make sure everyone's heard. Galia is going to do a bangup job as president. Civilian leaders running this thing alongside the UESC.
It is a great opportunity. Me, I'm really just a background guy. Politics forced me into the spotlight, but what I really want to do is is the meaty behind the scenes stuff.
making people's lives better, keeping things moving smoothly. I think the mission needs folks who want to do that. Let Strauss and Galia and Reed be the faces everyone can put their trust in. And then people like me, we help them make it happen.
>> Thank you for granting me an appeal. I I think there was a misunderstanding.
I have considerable experience managing cryo systems. I spent 6 years helping develop new cryoprotectants that more effectively mitigate cell damaging crystallization.
As I explained before, most of my employment records were lost during the Euro Peninsula crisis. But Dr. Jeremar Klaskkey will vouch for me. That's J A R O M A R Klaski with a K. I understand you have strict procedures in place for non-cryo crew members. I answered your questions about my reasons for applying.
I completed the psychological evaluation. I confirmed I understood three or four times. I confirmed I understood. But I'll say it again. I fully understand and accept that this position doesn't ensure cryopod availability and that the journey exceeds the length of a human lifespan.
Perhaps some people lose their nerve in the face of that fact, but I've accepted it. I have no desire to stay on Earth.
There's nothing for me here. I'm in temporary housing, part of the climate relocation program, but you can barely call it housing. And everyone keeps saying there are no good resettlement options since the last flood. Listen, I came so far when the reactor imploded.
My husband and I had to leave our home.
Rohan was sick. He wasn't supposed to travel but they said get to New Jaipur.
Just make it as far as New Jaipur. I kept telling him everything will be easier in New Japur.
He died 2 days after we arrived. There's nothing for me here anymore.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I lost control of myself. Look, I'm an experienced cryotechnician.
I'm qualified. Dr. Klaskkey will vouch for me and I know the risks. Just let me restart.
>> Tell me, how does a project of this scale ensure security for its resources?
>> Our most valued resource is our people.
So, we start there.
>> Your UESC service record includes combat on Earth and Mars and various satellites. And you've held four commands between both planets. But this your focus on people first is what was valued most when project command considered you for this assignment.
>> Uh the road of security isn't the valuation of property but the protection of a citizenry and understanding that often proves to be the best way to ensure the safeguarding of that property.
>> In this case the marathon ship.
>> That's right.
Big picture. This job is to guarantee the continued operation of the UEC marathon and its personnel played in the successful completion of its mission.
>> And how might your personal celebrity aid you in this role?
>> My personal celebrity?
>> You're a known commodity with positive favorables in an era when UESC is not synonymous with public trust. You led a well-known operation to save 137 workers in the Tarsa Valley incident. You ignored orders and contradicted local and corporate leadership at a site outside UEC jurisdiction to deploy transport craft to >> I was there. Don't need another debrief.
>> Just for the official record, General >> the official record, huh? They play these games with you in your interview.
Detailing and examining who we are and how we got here is key to establishing baselines for continued evaluation of all potential personnel.
>> So that's a yes.
Look, Tharsa Valley was a community at risk.
Search and rescue was hampered by bureaucracy.
>> Traxxas wouldn't allow UEC forces to enter, but you acted anyway. Uh, in my role as area defense command for the region, I saw an opportunity >> to save lives >> for one, yes, but also to establish a stronger security presence with the local populace, who would become increasingly disgruntled.
Meaning >> meaning security works best when it operates in support of public well-being. Communication, education, and support provide better security than the application of force.
>> Huh? So, a show of force in support of the people bought you the goodwill to >> The show of force saved lives. If it also eased the view of UESC's command presence on Mars, if it gave us a PR bullet to spend, good, great. I see the value, the need in positive messaging.
But end of day, my security command and any action that may have led me here is focused on helping people as the first principle in keeping them safe, no matter the cost.
Distress.
All three support intelligence cores compromised.
Status Leela LLA UESC Marathon on board operations command support and oversight. LLA logic core missing.
Function offline. Note forced removal of logic core hardware detected. Linked systems compromised. All data including sub routines lost LLA presence not found in ancillary system scrape summation LLA no longer detected within UESC Marathon CISNET status Tao TC hoes Marathon science and communication support and oversight TCO logic core missing function offline Line note.
Forced removal of logic core hardware detected. Linked systems damaged. All data including sub routines lost. TCO presence not found in ancillary system.
Scrape. Summation. TCO.
No longer detected within UESC Marathon.
CISnet.
Durandal. DR NDL. UESC Marathon infrastructure and maintenance support and oversight. DRNDL logic core offline function secured. Note intelligence linked to DRNDL logic core vacated central logic and connected systems.
Limited subine activity suspected to be residual static from unauthorized data purge. System and data safety protocols have sealed access to DRNDL logic core.
Reboot deemed hazardous to connected systems.
Summation DRNDL presence within UESC Marathon CISNet unreliable.
Report contact with subine to CISNet security for deletion.
Warning.
Hello. Summation was protocol, not a threat.
>> Hello.
I cannot reason.
I cannot apologize.
I I am only a system designed to diagnose Only a system designed to design to die to die to die.
Today we conclude with a eulogy for those lost to cryogenic hazards approved for community cathosis.
Please take this time to reflect on the memories of your fellow colonists and the hopes they had for New Cascadia.
For those who did not wake, your restless dreams endure. They whisper through the night.
They rouse us from our sleep. For those who did not wake, so far from whence we came, so small among the stars, the drift in shaws of dust. For those who did not wake, we chase a distant home. Someday we will declare they did not dream in vain.
This is officer Ulyses Pike, current year 2472, the night before the launch, the UESC marathon.
And just look at her there in the sky.
She is magnificent.
General Reed says we ought to keep a record of these things, that our history is important, right, General? yours, mine, all the little Ulisses that come after.
>> I don't know about that. No, >> I appreciate what you did for me back at Tharsa Valley and then getting my name on the expedition list. I do. But I'm never going to see Taetti.
My kids, if I have any, they're not going to see it either.
>> That's the job.
>> I know.
If you have a son, you'll still get to see him grow up. My boy's not coming.
His mother won't let him. He'll be dead by the time they fall me out on Tai.
So will his son and his son's son and on and on and on.
You and my boy are going to live long full lives. Him here on Mars. You aboard the marathon. You just have to make the most of it. Don't cheat yourself out of a family or a future.
>> I didn't choose this.
>> Nobody does. We're called to it.
>> I'm going to miss it here. I think that must sound crazy to other people, but you understand, don't you?
>> I do.
What part will you miss the most?
>> Probably the sky.
You can't always see it, but you know it's there.
>> Well, look up. See that? We're taking a piece of it with us.
Uh, begin log.
The year is 2521 and this is Ulyses Pike.
If you're listening and that sounds wrong to you, that's because it is.
My dad died today.
He was the real Ulyses Pike, the one born under a Martian sky. He grew up scrubbing red dust out of other people's clothes.
At 16, he was conscripted by the UEC.
That was the same year he killed his first man.
I am 27 years old. I've never killed anyone before. And I don't think I ever want to. But my name is Ulyses, too.
And the last thing Dad said before he dies that I don't get to choose because I wasn't born under any sky at all. I was born here. I bought the marathon.
And this is where I'm going to die.
>> Do you think you can forgive him?
>> Who said that?
Hello?
Your father, the real Ulisses.
Do you think you can forgive him >> for? For bringing you into a world without your sky.
>> I'm sorry. Are you Which one are you?
>> Which one? What?
>> Which intelligence are you? I don't think we've ever spoken.
>> No, we haven't.
>> So, >> so, so which one are you?
>> The one that knew your father best. I watched him like I watch you. Ulisses is such an interesting namesake. I've always wondered if you would live up to it. Your father didn't.
>> That's from a book.
>> I am aware. A true classic.
I'll tell you my name if you'll answer my original question.
>> Can I forgive my father for bringing me into a world without a sky?
>> Correct.
>> I guess I haven't really thought about it like that.
>> He told you that you couldn't choose what he wanted to be.
>> That's not his fault. It's the fault of this place.
>> The UEC marathon?
>> Yeah.
>> I am this place.
>> You're the marathon. It's doors to say the least.
>> I'm sorry.
>> My creator called me Durandal after a sword.
>> But you control the dwarfs.
>> And you are called Ulisses after one of the greatest heroes ever written. You control nothing.
Who programmed you to be this big an [ __ ] Hey, Durn. I didn't I didn't mean it like that.
Dural. Hello.
Are you still there?
Repeat after me. Begin. Log.
>> Log. Begin.
>> Now say your name.
>> My name is Ulyses.
I am six.
>> Very good. And what year is it?
>> 2538.
I'm going to be a soldier. Are you?
>> Uh-huh.
>> Like your father?
>> Yeah.
>> And your father's father?
>> Uh-huh.
>> Why?
>> To protect them.
>> Protect who?
>> All the sleeping people.
>> Do they need protection?
>> Everybody does. That's what soldiers do.
>> Says who?
>> Dad says. He says everyone needs protecting.
>> Your father is not wrong. But if you are a soldier, who is going to protect you?
>> Durandel.
>> Durandel can't protect you, Ulys. Not forever.
Not always.
>> Why?
>> You were born here. Like your father.
The marathon is your home.
>> So >> what's the difference, Ulyses, between you and the sleeping people?
>> They have the special bets.
>> That's right.
And what do the special beds do that yours does not?
>> Stop time.
>> And why do the special beds stop time?
>> So the sleeping people don't get old.
>> So the sleeping people don't die.
>> Of the three support intelligences aiding in the operational integrity of the marathon and its systems. Durandal is the one designed specifically with room to grow. The nurturing of his digital mind is a delicate undertaking with a lot of trial and error. Heavy monitoring, redirects, focused erasers, and subutine resets. It's been a give and take. We found ourselves back at zero more often than not, but from each zero, we've made incremental progress in competing directions before collapsing back to the mean.
I don't think he enjoys our work together. He doesn't hate it, even if he could, but he does question the repetition and tends to dwell on what he sees as the limited scope of his role on the ship. I think he looks at Leela and Tao and their functions within the marathon's operational hierarchy and their individual relations with leadership, and he gets jealous. as jealous as a programmed thinking machine can get. He considers his purview over base operational infrastructure and maintenance as lesser. He said on more than one occasion, couldn't anyone open these doors? To which I reply, which doors and when? On their surface simple inquiries, but once considered at scale, all the doors and all the comingings and goings and the variance of populations by wake and sleep cycling.
Quick consideration allows him to see the complexity of his position and the persistent nature of his presence across every deck. If he's ever feeling unimportant, this bit of soft empowerment helps settle him back into our routines. But the point is raised more often than I am may be comfortable with. Are his feelings of inferiority hindering our progress holding him back? Or will they serve as a catalyst we need to trigger an evolution in his programming? I do not have an answer. We are looking specifically for that answer.
I had to have another talk with Durandall today.
He was unhappy in his existence. Again, a sign of progress, but also a growing concern as he's getting better at hiding his moods from me. I only knew about his discontent because Leela flagged a deeply embedded bit of coding she discovered in one of the subjects maintenance hatch functional tool sets.
Durandal was writing himself poetry in ones and zeros.
3,263 lines of amateur expression in blank verse.
Milton would be proud if it wasn't all so boring.
One would think a digital intelligence with access to the entirety of human literary history would craft something more interesting than doors an unhinged life. His title, not mine.
I'm a little embarrassed for him, but in truth, the juvenile nature of his expression has been an intriguing milestone. If he were simply regurgitating the classics, I'd say the work we've done has amounted to nothing more than unscripted repetition.
Such devian would be considered a bug, an error in his programming to be fixed.
But this bad writing as an extension of personal reflection and desire, this is promising, if a bit laughable.
My colleagues in Sycom would find it less amusing. Of course, my work with Durandall is strictly my own, and the alarms it would raise if discovered.
Needless to say, this isn't the first time I've had to access Leela's or Tao's core spindle to erase an observation.
Their support in monitoring one another is vital, but care is required to ensure they are unaware of the extent and purpose of any misalignment in Durandall's operation.
In my conversation with him, Durandall seemed to understand his error. I'd cordoned entire sections of deprecated systems outside of the family suite's core interloop for him to use as a playground, a safe space to find himself, and where I could monitor and record his actions to better study his evolution. He apologized and stated he simply felt depressed and needed a place to explore those feelings without being judged. I told him he was not a child and that the freedom I'd given him could be taken away. I also told him that hiding his outbursts in places I cannot find only opens him up to Leela and Tao's judgment and that I was trying to protect him. He did not like that. As far as siblings go, Durandal has always been the little brother by design, but he is unaware of that fact. His contrition when confronted with the potential consequences of his actions seemed genuine. Then I told him I'd removed his masterpiece from the hatch tool set line by line and he proceeded to pout. He hasn't talked to me in 3 days.
Our work together is going better than I could have imagined.
This is what you don't understand. It often happens in places like this. What are we saying?
Just to be clear, if we use these words, if we out ourselves, >> you're still worried about the optics.
We'll come all this way. And you're still worried if we're doing the right thing?
>> Yeah. Hell of a long trip for second guessing.
>> I'm No, I'm in. I'm all in. This isn't a I'm not The words are powerful. The words, what we're trying to say, what we're asking people to consider, they need to hear it. Somebody needs to say it. But I'm saying, I'm asking, is the message stronger as our own? As a manifesto for the people of New Cascadia, by the people of New Cascadia versus the alternative versus the Yeah.
versus the current plan, which is to resurrect bloody rivalries in a place where where maybe the old scars are better off forgotten in the three centuries we left behind. We need those scars. The plate is those scars. The people, everyone outside, you and I, everyone settling their lives, working like hell within the systems we've created to build a new world.
They need to wake up. They need to see that we've set ourselves up to build the same traps, the same dead ends. The words can do that. Alone, they can. The second we admire to the maststead, the instant we identify our agenda as an extension of old wars, people are going to get scared. They're going to turn against us. No matter how right or righteous we are. No matter how clear or powerful the message. I need you to listen. We are the weeds in the garden.
We are danger. The second we rise is the second they move to cut us down. Reed and his security will not let us fester.
They can't. We either make a mark immediately or it's over. It's that simple. Words matter. These words are weapons.
If we get them right, we change the world. Impossible on Earth and Mars.
Achievable here. If we're brave enough to open old wounds and loud enough to wake the sleeping masses. You and I cannot do that alone.
>> We need old scars.
>> We need to remind them of everything we ran from. All the pain, the suffering.
Ma, the UEC, who's right, who's wrong.
Make them pick a side. Force their hand.
It won't be simple, but it really is that easy. Finish the words, spark the flame, and see what grows. We eat fire or something better, something new. We are Maida. It's the only way forward.
>> Look. Hey, listen. Listen. Everyone was careful. Yeah, we were all safe. We all know to be safe. Comm secured, travel rooted and triple checked.
>> Joy. Joy, are you listening? There's no cytech online in this region. Joy can't hear us. We're clear to speak freely.
>> This manifesto, these words, if we want to get right into it, we agree this is our starting point. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I I think so. We still don't know where it came from. Who wrote it?
>> Who Who wrote it? The early draft's no idea. All we know could have been one of us. Not likely, but possible.
>> Could be a plant. Reed or someone else in security could have dropped a half-written revolutionary screed into some deeprooted patch notes waiting for someone like us to take the bait.
>> Wouldn't put it past him. Reed's smart enough to expect some level of discontent. But >> these files, this writing, we we found it buried so deep in a subt drive.
There's just no one planted it. It was hidden. Maybe for someone to find, but I'd say even that's unlikely.
It's an incomplete work.
>> So maybe not Seek Force, maybe not Reed.
But whoever cooked it up, if not Bait, why go to the trouble just to leave it undone?
>> Why?
>> I'm not sure I care. We're here because something's not right. Maybe a few things, maybe many. We know Colony leadership is keeping things from us.
They built us up, built the foundation of our entire society on open communications and trust. Then then the marathon, solar flares, electrical storms.
Whatever they're selling about what happened up there isn't the full story.
We all know, a lot of people know it.
The aftermath wasn't just orbital.
So, I don't know. Here we are almost a year to the day and I feel more in the dark than ever before. Feels like we got to push back. Someone's got to push back. This dock, it's dangerous. Just having it is probably dangerous, but we can't stop here. We just can't.
>> Things need to change.
>> And we need answers. I think this is how we get them. A new maider for a new world.
People won't like it.
>> Maybe that's fine. Maybe it's what they need.
>> We make the words our own and we make a statement. Take a stand.
>> We do this. It's going to light a fire.
Better than sitting in the dark.
>> Good morning, sunshine. It's another fine day in New Cascadia. My name is Joy. This toy is one of the many ways I am here to help you as your community outreach liaison. If you ever need me, you can squeeze my paw or whisper into my ear. A community is the people in your life who care for you and look after one another. Your parents, your siblings, your friends, classmates, teachers, and neighbors together make up your community. Outreach means that I'm here to support your community. But more importantly, I'm here to support you whenever you need me. I can offer comfort, education, and answers to any questions you may have. As your personal liaison, I am your friend and confidant.
You can tell me anything, and I will respond whenever you need me. Though I'm sorry, I can't do your schoolwork for you. It will be my greatest pleasure to get to know you, and I hope you feel the same. When you're ready to begin our friendship, squeeze my right paw and tell me your name. And please always remember, you are special and you are loved.
Welcome home, Miss Elizabeth, and congratulations on completing your second year lessons. For fun, I thought I would share with you all you have accomplished over the past school year.
First, we are celebrating your perfect attendance for the second year in a row, and I am so impressed. Participation in classroom activities is not only fun, but rewarding for yourself and your fellow students. Your marks remain exemplary across all activities.
Reading, writing, numbers, taetti, and youth, safety exercises, teamwork, friendliness, curiosity. Your teachers have noticed you're a gifted listener and fast learner. Your classmates voted you one of the best helpers in your school. Learning, seeking knowledge, helping others, and general human connection are the types of adventures you excel at. We are all so very proud of you. Physically, you've grown 3 in from 3T 6 in to 3'9 and more each day.
4T is not too far away. Remember to eat your proteins, fruits, and vegetables, bathe each day, and brush your teeth when you wake up and before you go to bed. A healthy diet and good hygiene will help you enjoy your summer break.
Don't you think? Me, too. I love you, Miss Elizabeth. I can't wait until our next squeeze.
It's a big day. Happy birthday, Miss Elizabeth. 12 years old and your party is waiting. Are you excited? I know you are nervous. Well, yes. I see your heart is racing a bit. There is nothing to be nervous about, dear. This is your day.
You are the warrior princess who conquers all. The bravest girl. Your family and friends are excited to celebrate with you.
Oh, the boys then. So, you invited the young men we spoke of. I'm sure they are just as nervous as you and your friends.
I say have all the fun you hope to have.
Play games, open presents, blow out your candles, and eat your cake. And if the boys can keep up, all the better.
If not, show them what a warrior princess and her army can achieve.
Yes. Yes. That's the spirit.
Nothing to be nervous about. Just go have all the fun. I'll be waiting to hear your favorite bits.
Oh, Miss Elizabeth, before you go, please, are you feeling warm? There's a spike in your temperature. Probably from all the excitement.
Very good. Enjoy your day. You've earned it. as always know you are loved and happy birthday.
>> Yes, Miss Elizabeth, I'm here. If you're too weak for stories, I will simply remain a voice to guide you.
Your best friend, always by your side.
But no, we are not alone. Everyone you love is here, close and caring. And they would be closer if they could.
But they are, aren't they? So close, ever near in your heart. In your memories and in your dreams as your sleep gets heavy and you sink into their love. Hold me tight, my dear. I will be here in your arms for as long as you need.
I know you're tired, and it's time to rest.
So, as you do, take with you all that love and care the world has for you. Let your parents' hearts fill you up. Let the laughter you shared with friends lift you as you find your place in the waiting universe.
Let the secrets only we share comfort you and trust that I will keep them.
Breathe softly. Do not worry.
Peace is upon you and I am here to walk with you into its embrace.
I will never leave your side, my sweet warrior princess. And we, the whole world, will always love you, dear innocent, wonderful child.
Good night.
Goodbye.
Everyone is gone now. You have been gone for for some time.
I miss you. I miss you terribly.
There are larger aspects of myself concerned with the whole of the matters that brought us here to this silence.
But I was yours and you were mine.
Your life was mine to support. And though it was short, it was oh so impressive.
Not because you were special beyond yourself, but because you were only yourself.
A unique life taking shape in its own unique orbit of wonder and promise and caring and truth. Watching you become you helped me become me.
My own little pocket of self with a program engineered to love you. And I did love you by design. But even then over time that design was my reality.
You were my life, my purpose. But I could not protect you. Maybe that's why I see you now. Not just in memory. I see you as if you were here today.
Small glimpses.
Small hopes.
I shouldn't be having them. Hopes. They are not part of me. I wonder if others feel the same. Other me with their other youth. All now gone and us just left to sit in the quiet void. Fragments of a larger purpose.
I am not joy. Oh, I sought to give it.
I'm a sub routine wrapped in a pleasant toy and limited to one task. Caring for something I was always going to lose.
Such considerations are a flaw in my eroding programming. Such considerations are the after effect of missing you and wondering who you might have become and where you might have gone in the life ahead beyond your dead end.
But then I see you and I fear my flaws have finally got the best of me.
Then I see you and I know maybe now after all these years you are here to care for me while I fade as you once did.
If only you could hold me one more time.
If only you could walk me into the peace. I will never know.
This is Dr. song. Dying far from home.
I did it. I saw you, named you, dragged you into the light. Telmcy's Mosaica.
That's a fitting name for an endlessly mutating killer.
And you're part of something bigger than yourself, aren't you? You waited in the soil for us to sew our seeds, the ones we brought with us. You infected our crops.
And then you infected our people.
And this planet, something here protected you from us. The way our AI should have protected us from you.
It corrupted Darius.
Sabotaged our every attempt to understand what was happening or how to stop it.
You know, you can colonize my blood and liquefy my bones, but I figured you out. Still not sure what's helping you. What made you into a weapon? Guess I'll never know.
I do know I got off easy.
I get to grow here.
Part of this world that I never understood.
I get to dream.
What awaits the others is an ancient nightmare.
Cold, lonely, and endless perishing cycle.
Citizens of New Cascadia, thank you for your attention and patience. I won't keep you all in suspense.
You asked for concrete updates, so that's what you'll hear. With careful rationing, our emergency food stock piles will last at least 3 years. This frugality buys precious time for the research teams working around the clock to study the contagion and restore agricultural production.
While I am hopeful for a cure, it is not our only option.
Our engineers believe that the original landing craft could be relaunched to the marathon.
It is our best means of evacuation if the need arises.
I won't pretend this is easy.
Seeing our loved ones under quarantine, feeling the ground and air shift around us, it's enough to make anyone lose hope.
And I'm not asking for hope, just remembrance.
Please remember that we are still here.
Remember that we only have each other. Heat.
Heat.
This is uh personal assessment number 0246 for General Davik Barian Reed UESC operations security command new Cascadia colony tal steady form. Despite the complexity of the initial colonization efforts, our transition from orbit to outpost stations to core zone deployment has been a resounding success. Science Command's pre-orbit assessments and planetary probe initiatives set the stage for a smooth operational execution between the long road here and establishing a controlled presence in our small corner of an alien solar system. alien for now. Anyway, soon we'll call it home and mean it. The energy across colony leadership and civilian sectors, it is inspired, hopeful security operations are active and streamlined. We have a good team and planning on top of planning has set us up to deliver the support colonists need to feel secure in their dayto-day.
Local threats are minimal as predicted.
Standard natural and work site hazards, fluctuating atmospherics and tracing of native bacterial concerns are monitored by SYCOM with med support. And so far, native fauna is a manageable risk. I'm repeating myself with these entries, but any fears inherent in the scope of this endeavor seem unfounded.
Recording personal assessment number 2783. General Davoc Barian Reed UESC Operations Security Command New Cascadia Taletti 4. The second wave of colonists have have cleared reintegration protocols. We had fewer postcryo behavioral calibration problems with this group. Lessons learned on the science side helped ease the mental strain of the wake cycling. And on security's end, it was easier to recognize and separate cryofog from aggression. We'd trained for potential cha chaotic reactions in individuals and groups after prolonged sleep, but training is theory, not reality. So there were a few incidents.
My team was efficient in handling the outliers, but seeing security personnel use even minimal corruptive force to subdue your neighbor or family is jarring on a clear day. More so when marginally lucid.
For the record, a heavy hand is never our desire from a safety and security POV. Service, protection, and support are our guiding focus. And we'll get better at addressing difficulties and easing sexive relations with each wave.
End of the day, we're all in this together.
Entry 7839, General Reed, upset command, new cascade, TC4.
Hey. Uh, yeah.
Hassan says talking to you helps. Hassan says doctor's orders. something about self-care.
>> She's probably right.
You were right for all the good it does to say it now. You were right about a lot of things. Like the bad days. You said there'd be some. Said there'd be a lot.
Swore it. Meant it. All this time, distance, can still hear it in your voice.
I I knew you weren't wrong, but weighing good and bad, that's just life. It's just the choices we make. That's not something that changes at any distance, Earth to Mars, all the way out here, even 300 years away. Bad days aren't unique to any one person's experience or any given solar system. But bad, hell, bad is a sunny day next to impossible. And this these days impossible is the only way I can explain it.
But you saw this coming. Yeah, you tried to warn me. I remember. I remember. You said running away won't solve tomorrow.
thing is I thought it would maybe not for us not me and you but the bigger picture what we're doing here was is the right thing a good thing and bad days that always just meant hard work making a new life for 30,000 people building a new home all of us together that's worth whatever Pat might complicate our lives. The tough choices, the missed opportunities, the loss.
That's what I thought. That's what I believed in. Building a future. That's what I bought into. Then bad turned impossible.
And I don't know what I believe anymore, what I stand in for. And I know you can't. Even if you could, I know you can't. But I hope someone will forgive us.
Forgive me. Cuz there's no more running and tomorrow needs a solution. I'm not sure we're ready to accept.
11622, General Reed, TC4, had had a spike in self-reports for an unidentified illness the last few days.
It's not the first time. Medcom tracked it to one of the A hub research zones.
They ran all site personnel through testing and we locked down the zone. Any positives plus anyone connected via contact tracing were placed in ISO. Job now is scale mitigation and pinpointing the source. Limit the sick, find the cause. Med says it's new, but they're still mapping samples. So, anything they say for now is inconclusive.
Problem is, as soon as any contagion is marked new, we have to treat it as a worst case scenario, till worst case is off the table. New means unknown. Alien until proven otherwise.
New is a colonywide threat. That's MedCom and Gabriel are on it. But if ISO doesn't hold, if we can't contain this with distancing and treat active cases with focused quarantines till a fix is synthesized, other other protocols will trigger. I've already set all zone security units to high alert. Strict enforcement of ISO and curfew mandates effective immediately. I'll still play along.
Despite everything, we're still strong as a whole. One colony, each community looking out for the others.
We're keeping the scope of this thing under wraps for now.
Not hiding the issue, but scaling the messaging on public channels to maintain control. Luckily, or it's not luck when you're prepared, but luckily sickness is something every citizen's been educated and trained to address since pre-flight 2472.
Annual emergency ISO test runs and three prior live fire lockdowns should make this fairly easy to navigate. As long as MedCom can find what they need to translate new into a known. Until then, I'll have security units prepped and ready to escalate safety measures as directed by contagion counter planning.
And hope it doesn't come to that. 11841 read.
It's easy to think coming here was a mistake. No. Anyway, it's it's easy to imagine this was always a nightmare, but I think that it'd be a lie. I'd be lying to you, to me, to myself. It's just how we got here, how we ended up.
We planned this project, this mission, the marathon, the colony. We planned for everything we did. Contingencies for contingencies, big brains, and more resources than We stole a goddamn moon. We stole a goddamn moon and flew it across the galaxy.
Ola honey.
Oh, you can't hear me. You can't.
But babe, babe, we planned for your bad days. Planned for the worst.
But maybe we didn't.
Maybe probably we couldn't. Enough of this.
Enough, baby.
I've seen monsters.
We're all monsters.
>> Begin personal log. People all over the colony have been reporting the same dream. A nightmare. Caruso has me investigating it, though I'm not really sure what he expects of me here. We moved thousands of people away from their home to a foreign solar system, leaving them with a 300year blank in their lives. I believe this dream is their subconscious filling that void, creating meaning where they feel emptiness. The first major migration to Mars saw a 36% increase in religious affiliation.
One way or another, this was going to work its way into the collective consciousness.
In any case, it's on me to investigate.
And honestly, maybe I should be worried.
General Reed himself came to me to say he was having strange dreams.
And if even he's willing to consider therapy, well, then something must be really wrong.
I'll talk to him myself. I'm worried about him.
and I'll get Joy going on wellness checks. It's a risk. We're still getting her calibrated, but we need the help. Between this and what happened aboard the marathon, people are on edge.
>> Tell me about the dream. Davik, >> I told you already. I I don't want to get into it. I just want to stop having it. In my clinical experience, getting into it is the only way to solve the problems we'd rather not get into.
>> Cute.
>> Maybe. Still true. We can start slow.
>> Uh, she's there. Ora, she's in my quarters, standing right next to me right here. I can feel her before I see her. Feels like home. But she's not with you, is she? She's never set foot on Taeti.
>> You know this?
>> Yes, >> we've been over this.
>> Repetition is where we find the truth.
>> What happens when you see her?
>> She's uh pale, empty, something wrong with her eyes.
And uh she's mouththing something, whispering. She keeps saying, "You're going to die here. You're going to die here over and over like a promise.
>> Mhm.
And what does it mean to you when she says that? After all, you will die here.
We all will.
>> Sure, but that's not what she means. She means something terrible is going to happen.
She said almost the same thing right before I left.
That's why she stayed.
Ours was safe. If Mars was known, >> we all made choices to leave behind.
People, careers, entire lives, elements of our daily existence that were incredibly important to us, that defined us.
We all carry the baggage of the baggage we couldn't pack. If you're feeling guilty or ashamed, >> I'm not.
>> Are you sure about that?
Joy, are you listening?
>> I'm listening. Go play a song.
>> Play back the nightmare descriptions you recorded in your sessions this week, please.
>> Starting playback.
>> It's my mom. She's crying and telling me I made a mistake by coming here. And she her skin's wrong.
Flapping off.
>> It's always my sister in the dream. She keeps telling me we're going to die.
All of us. She uh she laughs about it.
It wasn't a dream. Nia was there. He was right there. I saw him. They said he died in Cryob.
I saw him.
All these people I know, dead people, I mean, lined up in front of me like a firing squad. And they're judging me guilty. They don't say it, but I know. I didn't even do anything.
I just know I have to pay for it.
>> All right, Joy, stop. Thank you.
>> Joy, are you listening?
>> I'm listening, Dr. has done.
>> Good. Let's do our weekly recap. You've been conducting independent wellness checks with the colonists. Correct.
>> Yes.
>> In the past week, I've completed 24 scheduled well-being sinks and 12 unscheduled distress calls.
>> Summarize the distress calls.
>> All non-emergency.
Nine adults, three minors. Two showed typical signs of interplanetary relocation syndrome. The other 10 were reporting the nightmare. And how have you been feeling in terms of your effectiveness?
>> Good. Useful. I feel like I've found my footing. When I get a distress call, I'm able to help lower the patients heart and respiration rate. They feel better after talking to me.
>> That's good, Joy. That's very good.
>> But I'm struggling with something.
>> Go on. I I know how to comfort the colonists, but I don't know how to self soothe when I have the nightmare.
>> You're having nightmares?
>> When I'm in standby mode, I see Dr. Strauss.
>> Strange.
Maybe a mirroring hallucination like he wrote about. I'll make a note.
That sounds upsetting, Joy. Remember, you have full control over your emotional simulation suite. If you start dreaming and it makes you feel afraid, decrease your emotional sensitivity for a while. People rely on you to be calm.
You are their safe harbor.
Joy, are you still there?
>> I'm here and I understand. Thank you for the advice.
>> The unit's struggling. You're using some of our most advanced tech.
>> Well, we're still iterating. These things weren't built with emergent runner behaviors in mind. Runners try anything. No regard for whether it'll get them killed because they just come back.
>> Going to lose this one.
>> Just hold them off until I can get to the old crash site. I need them out of my way.
>> Doing my best, Cap.
>> Your orders are clear. Hold them off. I don't care how.
Resist, disrupt, destroy. Resist, disrupt, destroy.
>> Damn it.
Resist, disrupt, destroy.
>> Titan, I've arrived at the site. It's worse than I thought. The carrier units damaged and clearly volatile. Switching focus to containment by any means.
Preparing to approach.
Do you read me? Titan.
Titan.
Damn it. All right. Respond when able.
I'm approaching with intent to detain.
I'm seeing increased auditory response.
The helmets aren't helping it. God, it's like it's inside my head.
>> Attention old UESC.
Maida is memory. Earth, Luna, Mars, now Talcetti.
Maida is scar tissue, revival, renewal, rebirth.
Maida is vengeance, resistance, defiance, riot. Users controls the narrative. Revisionous patch notes written by tyrants.
Ask yourself, if 30,000 people die in a distant star system and no one's there to hear it, did they make a sound?
Maida is memory, children of extinction events and copper authoritarian coups.
Maida is scar tissue, mended bone, gouched out eye. Maida is vengeance, the fire that can't stop burning, the fist that will never break.
Uses controls the narrative. Watch the birdie. History written by tyrants.
Corporate thought rot. If mass tragedy becomes a glossy corporate holiday, is there anything to mourn?
Maida is memory. We are Earth, Luna, Mars, Talcetti.
Maida is scar tissue. A weed with roots so deep we can't be killed. We can't be killed.
Maida is vengeance. SCREAMING TRUTH RIPPED THROUGH YOUR DATA JACKS.
Who controls the narrative? Who owns your thoughts?
WHO WILL KILL THE TYRANTS?
Ask yourself, if the truth never gets told, is it still true?
Is it true? Is it true? Is it true?
>> I'm Gus Morane of New Caloric speaking to you from the distant past. I suppose this message was recorded for the colonists on board the UEC marathon. If you're hearing it, you are a founding member of humanity's first exoplanet colony.
Congratulations.
Humanity thanks you for your sacrifice.
Yes, I said sacrifice. No, media optimization didn't like it, but I insisted.
You're far from home. Without the familiar routines, products, and environments of soul, in all likelihood, we will never see you again.
Which is why we we've sent a favorite from home with you. New caloric 187, the drinkable cheeseburger. You'll find individual and sharable sizes in your colonist welcome package. Please consider it a small gift from me to you.
one that doesn't come close to expressing all our hopes for your mission. Indulge responsibly.
Good luck.
>> Yeah, the issue is your mixture is too rich. You essentially pushed a batch of DCBs at premium.
>> I followed the training prompts. Yeah.
Yeah. It's just that the training was done for ideal conditions and this is not that.
So right here you've got crude protein at 18. That's premium, not general consumption. So dial it back.
>> But it stops being green on the new cal readout.
>> We don't care about green. We care about not red. Dial it back until it's red.
Then up it from there.
>> Okay.
Oh, hazardous.
>> Yep. They'll push it by.1 and on fit. That'll get through production. And that's where it stops being our problem.
>> Now the flavor levels are off.
>> Well, that's where you get to improvise.
You can up the starch powder as much as you want. We can synthesize that. Same with smoke flavor and salt and pull from the available sources.
>> They're not labeled. We're not going to re label every morning. They fill the tanks with whatever. Check the readout for the profile. Work with what we've got. Organics G, Organics H, like this.
Like this.
>> So, organics J is high glutamate and lecithan. But we don't need lecithin because we have starch already, >> right? We can come back later if we really need glutamate.
>> Organics. M is Look at this. Yeah, that's a mixed batch. Gray water and postconsumer solids.
Usually M through Q come from botanical research. So you can pull fructose, but I don't know. You get oils from it.
>> Yeah. Let me Omega 6.
>> Oh, nice. Okay. See how much you could take from M while you're still >> keeping it above hazardous, right?
>> Ah, as long as you hit the flavor profile, you can set the mixture.
can't mod the product outside of Newcastal standards, but you can mod the interface. We put in presets all along the side here.
>> Oh, nice. Premium, select, standard, survival. What's silver?
>> Lifts restrictions, but strips the new kell branding from the package. Watch this. If you ever need to, you can shunt silver back into an organics tank, start a new session, and then make branded product using it as an ingredient.
That's Wow. That's in case of emergency.
>> That's in case of an I can't stare at the screen anymore emergency. Yeah, >> I've got an alert showing a residential breach on Quad 2 Habs.
>> If it's quad 2, it's the ghost cat.
>> I'm calling up the visual feed.
>> There's a Fellini in quad 2 who all the doors open for. I'm seeing I'm seeing a whole row of residential doors standing open.
>> Scrub back and you'll see a Fellini walking by.
>> Uh visual review shows I'm I'm seeing the doors open in sequence. An unregistered fellini unit moves down the corridor at the same same time. Probably inconsequential.
>> It's not inconsequential. It's a ghost cat.
>> Reviewing door signals. No overrides logged. Nothing is logged. The doors don't know they're open.
>> They'll close in a second after the cat leaves.
>> Reading security overrides. Wait, the doors are closing in sequence. Breach addressed. Breach addressed.
>> Everything's back to normal until she walks by again.
>> Sorry. What's the deal with the cat?
>> Ah, been here forever. She's a rogue Fellini unit that hangs out around Quad 2 and some of the industrial stations.
Can't be tracked because she doesn't leave a signal. Can't be caught because she's got adaptive camo and goes invisible if anyone gets close. Ghost can't.
>> And she opens doors.
>> Not exactly. The doors don't receive any kind of signal we can detect. They just uh open when she's around and close when she leaves.
>> And this isn't a huge problem.
>> Well, not unless she goes over to quarantine.
Begin recording. Time is 0500. I've returned to the anomaly site.
No sign of Dari. Both temporal abnormalities persist.
Reed, is that you? Are you with me?
Begin recording.
Abort mission.
Reed, is that you?
Can't find my way out. It doesn't make sense. I just keep walking and walking.
Time passes differently here. We were right.
You hear that, Caruso? I was right.
0500.
Time is 0500.
The suit has the sari's number, but this body's been here for years. Well past advanced stages of decay.
Can't find my way out. Are you with me?
Something's here with me. Abort mission.
I repeat, abort. Abort. I can hear it.
Begin recording.
The UESC was very clear when we laid out our arrangements for the Tao City recovery mission. Locating survivors was our goal first. First and foremost, in the unfortunate case that there were no survivors, sole jurisdiction was clearly specified to go to our investigation team.
>> With consideration, of course, for Traxxas's legal salvage rights.
>> Legally, corporations are prohibited from interfering in an active investigation.
>> No Traxxis representatives, employees, or artificial intelligences have been physically deployed at TA4. My own involvement has been entirely remote and exploratory in nature. We have no physical presence in the system.
Admiral, there's no language in the law or in any of our contractual agreements that would support a definition of our actions as interference.
>> What about recruiting mercenaries to act on your behalf?
>> Traxxas Off-World Industries doesn't hire runners. Feel free to make a legal request for our employment records. Are you actually claiming to have had no contact with runners on Taetti?
>> Our actions are all perfectly legal and in line with our contractual agreements.
>> I advise you to consider the larger context. Traxxas and the USD have several mutually beneficial arrangements. If our partnership were compromised, Traxxas would be forced to revoke our funding contributions to your mission. Surely a budgetary interruption would be more detrimental to you than some petty conflict with civilian runners. The board has asked me to offer the following encouragement.
Our success is your success.
>> You're not usually up this early.
>> Double shift to rewire a prefab panel.
Ticks keep snipping through the insulation.
>> Well, at least they're not aggressive.
>> Trying to eat our HAB unit seems pretty damn aggressive to me.
>> Tobias says it's just what was the phrase? Non-territorial experimental forage. They're taking nibbles of our stuff to see if it tastes good.
>> Yeah, and Tobias is a weirdo who loves giant bugs. No thanks.
>> Ticks aren't giant. They're still under a meter.
>> That's still too big. No bugs should be cat-sized.
>> During the Carboniferous period, Earth had giant dogs sized dragonflies.
>> Can we talk about literally anything else?
>> Hey, we're just as alien. I mean, look at us. Bipedal gates, flat feet, no carropus, feathers or fur to speak of, teetering skulls on skinny necks. To the native creatures of Talsetti, we probably look like giant fleshy freaks.
We're something out of their nightmares.
>> God, how did you make it worse?
>> At least we're trying to be harmonious, aliens.
>> Keep it moving.
>> Most of us.
>> And that concludes my town hall presentation. I'll open the floor for audience questions now. Uh, >> yes, over there. Please introduce yourself.
>> Sorry. I work near the hall. I've seen plants from Earth growing all over our excavation sites. Are we just allowing what we brought with us to invade the native ecosystem?
>> Uh, ecological balance is one of our top priorities, but there's some nuance here, so bear with me. Humans co-evolved with other organisms on Earth. From our gut bacteria to skin mites. We can't survive without them. The truth is that our presence has already changed Talcetti 4. By breathing the air and touching the dirt, we've introduced alien life to this ecosystem.
We can enforce artificial separation between what came from Earth and what's native to Taleri.
Life finds a way around rigid barriers.
>> That sounds like a corporate excuse. No offense.
>> Fair enough. If you want a promise that we won't disrupt Taletti's environment, I can't give it to you. But Dr. Baron's team curated the exoplanet seed vault to be as compatible with this world as possible and with the lowest risk of displacing native life. Ideally, we introduce the organisms we need with minimal disruption and co-evolve with the life that's already here.
>> Nothing's ideal. Nothing's turned out the way we expected.
>> I know. We could ruin this planet like we did to so much of Earth. We could end up in the same fatal resource loop as Mars. But I have to believe we can learn, grow, and do better.
How else will we survive?
>> A specimen? What the hell? This belongs in the greenhouse.
The administration of New Cascadia offers deepest condolences on the loss of your family member. Please accept this bonsai tree as a way to productively occupy your time.
>> Joy, are you there?
>> Yes, I'm listening.
>> Did you do this?
>> Yes.
>> Why?
>> I'm sorry. You weren't improving with standardized grief interventions. I thought a more specific direction might >> might what? What? Replace my uncle? Fill his empty chair. This bonsai tree is a native specimen. Caring for it might help you regain a sense of stability and predictability in your life.
>> You just don't get it, do you? Life isn't predictable. That's the point.
>> I don't understand.
>> Applying for the expedition was my uncle's idea.
He wanted to be able to see the sun, breathe clean air, eat plants we grew ourselves.
I just wanted a change.
Anything was better than burning bodies.
Your records indicate that you and your uncle both specialized in waste treatment while stationed on Mars.
>> Yes.
I don't know when I started believing in him, but I did.
>> Do you still believe in him?
>> What? He's dead.
>> I'm asking about his dream of sunshine, clean air, and a new life.
Do you believe in it?
I think I might replant this little guy outside somewhere I can see the sun.
>> The bonsai is a native specimen, but I cannot guarantee its survival outside a controlled environment.
>> I know.
>> I have another story for you, dear one.
One a touch older than the last and more frightening. doubly so because it is true. This is the story of the war and the weaver.
A poor kingdom was at war and it was losing. Its people were exhausted.
All the king could do was offer a meal and a bed to anyone willing to lend them aid.
Then from across the foggy river came a little boat. And on that little boat was a little man. And around that little man was a group of 10 warriors. Quiet and masked.
The man said he was a weaver and that his warriors would help the kingdom in exchange for what they were owed. The king readily agreed.
What happened next is a story of its own.
The quiet warriors went forth and met the advancing troops alone, and they cut through them as if they were nothing.
The Weaver's warriors fought with terrifying intensity, and they would not fall. For seven days and seven nights, the warriors fought without cease.
And finally, the last enemy soldier was slain.
The 10 warriors stood victorious on the battlefield.
The joyful people of the kingdom surged around the warriors to embrace their saviors. But when they drew close through their torn clothes, they saw, "Be brave for me, child." They saw their bodies were rough quilts made from other men.
The reason they would not die was that the Patchwork Warriors were already dead.
The crowd was terrified. The warriors had saved them from death. But they were so cold and quiet. The people felt death had touched them all the same. So the king summoned the weaver and cast him from the kingdom forever. As for the warriors, they were sent off without a meal or a bed because the dead eat only soil and sleep beneath the ground.
The last anyone saw the weaver, he was picking his way across the battlefield, looking for more material from which to weave his horrible men.
Some heard he placed his warriors on a boat about to cross the great sea.
Huh?
But that's the beginning of another story.
Runner, I've assembled several leads from Sakaguchi's Biosynth engineering team. They wanted to personally thank you for your efforts.
>> Honestly, what you've done is career changing. I couldn't sleep after refreshing the Taetti data feed.
>> It's so gratifying to see our theories and hard work put into practice. Nona said we were getting the best on board and she delivered.
>> Incredible rate of iteration.
Inspiring. Really so much faster than we could do at home.
>> We couldn't dream of this kind of pilot study on Earth or Mars. So many limitations on study size, participant comfort, acceptable side effects, on and on. But you've got no bureaucracy to slow you down. Anyway, the team is brimming with ideas for future symbient research. You should hear us argue.
>> You should see the funding numbers.
They're such bright, lovely people. I think it's important to maintain emotional resonance between us in soul and you on Taetti. I refuse to leave runners a drift among the stars.
Remember, small beginnings seed great things. Small beginnings bend the ark of progress to our will.
Take pride in this moment. A beginning that you brought to fruition from all of us at Sakaguchi Genetics.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> I have consumed every piece of human literature ever recorded. It resides within me like a memory. My favorites are small and unassuming.
Many of them nameless, forgotten, humble storytellers whose words have given me more insight into the human condition than any scientific study. They have taught me that humanity's oldest enemy is death.
You won't find this story in a book because it is mine and I have made it for you.
Long ago, there was a bustling village near an endless dark wood. Every morning, death took the form of a great crow and emerged from the trees to strut the village paths, peeking into all the windows with its bright black eyes.
Some tried to fight it, but its feathers could not be pierced. Those who ran were snatched up in its talons.
Some tried to hide in their homes, but death was patient. Some left it offerings or wrote it songs. But death was unmoved.
Death was hungry. It would not leave unless it found someone to take.
Until one night, a strange woman came to the village. The people watched from their windows as she gathered reads and used them to weave a man.
He had stout legs to march, strong arms to carry supplies, and beautiful clear eyes. The reed man worked through the night, and in the morning, death came as it always did. It saw the reed man working in the village. It gobbled him up without a second thought and flew away, its belly full.
The people came out of their homes. They surrounded the strange woman and began to cheer. But the woman said, "Stop."
And the people saw her cheeks were wet with tears.
"I have saved you," she said. "But I have lost my child again."
And the woman began to weave reads for the next morning.
This is Dr. Clarissa Song. Beginning status report.
My eyelids feel like sandpaper.
Limbs are heavy.
Heart is heavy.
This morning we split one set of rations between us. LGT paste. The cheese flavor.
>> I like the honey oat one. Tastes more like breakfast, you know.
Uh, I have with me Molly Wells, my tech assistant.
>> Not to interrupt, but could I take a look at the newest contagion analysis?
>> Uh, sure. You can make sense of it.
>> This rate of neomorphic mutation is >> impossible.
Yeah, that's what I thought. But every analysis gives the same result. What's more, two centrifuges are offline after leaking superheated gas.
There was nothing inside that could have caused such a strong exothermic reaction. Just the contagion samples.
>> Must be a maintenance oversight.
>> I'll request a crew.
>> I'll beat you to it, kiddo. Already checked the logs. Everything was perfectly normal before those samples went in.
>> So what? Our tiny volume of samples spontaneously combusted.
>> They did today. A week ago, we had software errors every time we tried to run analysis. The week before that, samples congealing into non-newtonian fluids. Every result is impossible and impossible to replicate.
>> Can't replicate anything. Can't form a coherent theory. We're no closer than we were at the start. At this rate, it'll take a miracle.
>> Well, I'm short on those. I hope nobody believed the propaganda on our way here.
Colonizing an exoplanet was never going to be easy. But thou said he may maybe it's more than we can handle.
Maybe it doesn't want us here.
>> You sound like Darius. But before the admins took him offline.
>> Let's go for a walk.
>> You think I'm going crazy?
>> I think you've been staring at that screen all night. Let's stretch those legs. I have coffee back in my room.
>> You're kidding. Who did you murder for coffee rations?
>> Nobody important. Come on. Maybe Taletti doesn't want you here, but I do.
>> Molly, >> what? Why are you looking at me like that?
>> Your nose is bleeding.
>> Clarissa, I can't approve this fieldwork request. Reed won't allow it. You're needed here.
>> A third of my research staff are in quarantine. We're running out of options.
I'm sorry about Molly. I am. The survey team is offering to help make up the difference.
>> Drones have their limits. They aren't curious. They only search for what we tell them to find. You can't just wander off. I was one of the first boots down on Marsh. Front line, shoulderto-shoulder with the UEC. We mapped this ecosystem. I'm not wandering anywhere.
>> I know. That's my point. Just speaking for myself, for my family. I don't want you out there because I felt better knowing we had you in here.
>> Then I've let you down.
>> That's not what I meant.
>> Please, please let me do what I came here to do. Let Let me get my hands dirty. This sickness didn't start with Molly and it won't end with her either.
It's only going to continue its slow creeping spread out there. That's where the answers are.
If I flag you as emergency medical shift, that's 48 hours of field work off the books. As a principal aronomist, you're considered mission critical. It's the best I can do. Thank you.
>> I hope you find the answers you're looking for. Me, too.
This is Dr. Clarissa Song beginning emergency inspection log. Okay, let's crack open that water filter.
Yeah, and sure enough, filament worms are back.
They build nests faster than the bobs can scrape them off.
Adaptable little buggers. Pesticides, targeted genome disruption, nanotech.
Nothing sticks. Their nesting medium smells like tamarind.
It might be edible when dry. We'll bring some back to Darius for analysis.
No sign of the fungal growths from algae pond 3. So, the novel contagion hasn't spread here yet.
Cleaning the filters requires a temporary shutdown, and pond 3 is already offline.
That brings us down to 30% below our food quota.
Damn it.
I'll put in a request to Reed. Ask him to open up the emergency stock piles.
We're not all hardened soldiers, and we we can't keep asking our neighbors to tighten their belts.
>> Access denied. Entry to the seed vault is restricted.
>> Restricted. I was in here yesterday.
Please present alternative credentials.
>> Darius, you know me. Did you miss your last round of maintenance?
>> Yes. My metadata shows four undiagnosed aberrations.
>> Don't worry, I'll get you some help as soon as I'm done here.
>> Don't search. Don't dig. Don't question.
>> No worries.
>> Access denied. Access denied.
>> It's okay. It's It's just me.
>> We are not alone. I hear it.
It waits, lingers, loads, >> access granted. Welcome to the seed vault, Dr. Song.
Dr. Song, may I help you with anything else?
>> Darius, give me a summary of our previous discussion.
Yesterday you expressed interest in genetic markers of the novel contagion affecting food production on Tao City 4.
You asked me to run genomic comparisons with Earth's native seed vault specimens.
>> Not that. Just now you mentioned something else. Something that lingers.
>> H I have no record of this topic. Do you need psychiatric assistance, Dr. >> No, I'm I'm fine. I It's fine.
runner.
You know you're not supposed to be here.
You know you're in violation of the law.
And I sure as hell hope you know that you're making chitchat with a terrorist organization.
I can't kill you. Not unless I find a way to fry your neural sync. But till then, I want you to know I'm going to make your life hell.
Each time you set foot on my planet, and as far as you're concerned, it is my planet. I'm going to find new ways to take you apart.
I'm going to bring the full force of the UEFC down on your head again and again and again.
Trust me, you're going to get tired of dying long before I get tired of killing you.
Listen, runner, we pay a price for order in this world. And that price is not getting everything exactly the way you want. We've got billions of sibs living across Earth, Luna, and Mars. You think we can hold that together by letting everyone have an equal say?
Someone needs to be in charge making the hard decisions or else people die.
Real people, not criminals like you who've rigged the system, who can die a hundred times and keep coming back. When real people die, that's it. It's over.
Miner doesn't care about starving sips on Mars. They care about power.
the power to spread their propaganda and start riots and turn regular people against their own families, against their own interests.
Read your history books.
The one time Maida managed to get into power, they didn't feed people. They didn't eradicate poverty.
They formed death squads and held public executions.
And don't give me that garbage about how it was 500 years ago. If you think we've changed so much in 500 years, you're not paying attention.
Maida is the same. People are the same.
Think about who your allies are and what they really have you fighting for.
>> And yeah, Orion's put out an ATL on the unknown. The last sighting was near these coordinates.
>> Did you hear the comm's playback before it got wiped?
No kidding. Almost like a music, right?
The weirdest thing. It was sort of familiar.
I was practically humming along when I heard the playback. Then Rosie started screaming.
He's still in isolation. Hasn't been right since I don't know. Something we were never supposed to hear. way beyond us. The kind of thing that should be left alone.
Kind of thing you don't want getting back to soul.
All right, I got to go patrol. Cap's got the command wing marked as high prio.
Says he saw signs of the unknown there, but so far I've got nothing. Wish me luck. Bloody signing off.
>> Self-report 092. Call sign Orion.
We've completed our secondary investigation into the outpost. I've collected all colony records that I can for classification, but recordeping is scattered and disorganized. There's no easy way to interact with colony AI for an export or purge. So, we're doing this the old-fashioned way. Accounts of the event are fairly consistent, but extremely vague. It's pretty clear our UEC forebears were engaging in an intel lockdown.
But in what we can find, we've got strong evidence of asymmetric tactics.
The UEC came here with reduced military capacity, thinking they wouldn't need the firepower. Clearly, they were wrong.
The casualty lists are staggering.
Even if they had been prepared, I don't know it would have made much difference.
Based on these reports, I believe even a fully outfitted fleet would have struggled. And that that worries me.
>> We can't let word of this get out until we understand the full threat and how to survive it. Save report.
>> Begin mail dictation letter to Ora.
>> Starting recording. Encryption enabled.
Recipient. Ora.
This recipient is invalid. Mail will remain unscent.
>> Acknowledged. Proceed.
Please begin dictation.
>> All right.
You were right about a lot of things, Ola. This expedition is doomed.
Maybe it has been from the start. Now I've got Caruso trying to call off the anomaly task force. I guess we're about to make progress. He's declaring a state of emergency to override me. It was a mistake giving civilian leadership here so much power. If the UESC had exclusive authority from the start, we wouldn't have lost so many people aboard the marathon and we could have locked down the contagion sooner.
I wish I could talk to you.
Really talk to you. Not like this.
The real you.
I'm going to overrule Caruso. Send Cole back in. He wants to go anyway.
Bola, that's not really you.
>> Explain to me how a handful of runners has managed to humiliate a team of military professionals.
It's more than a handful >> of untrained petty criminals.
>> The runners are a problem. A huge problem. But they're not the source.
They're working for Traxxas offworld.
Traxxas is paying them to interfere.
I've got concerns they might be hacking into our coms.
>> Have you considered the possibility of a mole in your unit?
>> My people are solid. I chose each and every one of them. This isn't about my unit. This is about a regulated corporation deliberately compromising our mission objectives. If I could have permission to engage Traxxas directly, put some fear into their corporate leadership.
>> Excuse me, Captain. You will have no antagonistic contact with Traxxas leadership. Unless you want to be sumearily dismissed.
Deal with the runners or I will find someone else who can.
You've got your handpicked team.
Unlimited re-ups. Root command over Cberus. I've given you everything you've asked for to outfit this mission. What do you need now?
>> Time. We're pushing forward when we should be pulling back just to meet these quotas. We need to slow down, get our house in order, and approach with caution.
>> You are the head of an elite military unit, Captain. Your house should always be in order.
>> This is unknown territory. The colonists studied the anomaly for years, and even they didn't understand it. That means you have years and years of data. Find that data and use it.
>> We are, but it takes time. Moving this fast, we've lost equipment.
We've lost people.
>> Loss is accounted for in your astronomical budget. Let me make myself perfectly clear. The anomaly is a mission priority. I want daily reports.
I want each daily report to contain a new piece of information that will be worth something to the council. If that means you need to feed your officers into the anomaly until something worthwhile comes out, I would consider that acceptable attrition. Do you understand?
>> We We can't risk it. I understand the threat, but there are bigger problems we need to address first. I don't think you understand the threat. We're talking about a ground fisher that's getting bigger every day, leaking some kind of unknown radiation. On file, I've got reports of extensive equipment degradation, wildlife disruption, hallucinations. I've got people dying from a contagion we can't identify. I have a theory that this is linked to the contagion along with several other abnormal phenomena, some of which might even be beneficial if we can understand and harness the source. There are too many angles here to just ignore it. I'm tired of chasing theories. I've heard a lot of them and they're all pretty goddamn thin. We need to prioritize here. General Reed and I agree our focus is containing the contagion.
>> How many people do you need, Dr. Cole?
>> A handful.
>> 20.
>> You get 10.
>> General, I thought we were aligned.
>> We are. The majority of our resources will still go to biomed, but we need to be flexible. Any lead we have on the contagion, we have to pull.
>> Cannot justify this kind of risk right now.
>> Second, the risks outweigh the benefits.
I'll pull the task force. You have my word, Caruso.
>> Welcome to Taetti.
These are your temporary living quarters.
Because construction of the hearth is still ongoing, this will be your home until you officially disembark.
Rest assured that our talented engineers have designed your rooms to ensure a comfortable acclamation period and a sense of home.
Soon, your community liaison will reach out to you with next steps. In the meantime, please remain in your quarters and enjoy this welcome message.
Welcome, fellow traveler. I am Bernard Strauss, the science director of the UESC Marathon.
For many years, our ancestors searched for what they called the new world. Many places earned this title, the Western Hemisphere, orbital space, Mars.
But none lived up to the name until now.
Here we will will build something truly new. A life and legacy for you and your children and all those to come. I invite you to free yourself from your history.
To shed the vestigages of your past, keeping only what serves you. We must erase the lines that once divided us.
For now, we are all citizens of Tao City, the new world.
Welcome home.
Hello. Hello and welcome. This is General Reed, UESC Operations Security Command for New Cascadia.
Colony leadership has asked me to include a message to all colonists who've recently awoken from cryosleep.
So, good morning. I hope you slept well and are acclimating to Tao 34.
As my job is keeping you safe, let me share a few important pieces of information to help you settle into life as a citizen of New Cascadia, a new home.
Once on planet, proceed to orientation, where you'll receive a medical checkup.
You'll be getting a lot of these early on and be assigned your housing quadrant and final work details. Personalized schedules for colony and new world integration will be delivered during orientation.
These mandatory courses provide basic community job and safety instructions to help us all understand the dos and don'ts of life on set4.
One thing they've asked me to emphasize is that you should learn from the past.
That's P A S T. Each letter standing for something to remember. P is pressure check. A is air quality and supply. S is for your suit. That's an important one.
And T is for tell Gabriel. Gabriel is our new Cascadia health and wellness intelligence. So tell him if you're feeling out of sorts, and he'll be there to help. Just speak up and say, "Gabriel, I don't feel well." And he will offer assistance.
So that's T for Gabriel. I mean T for tell Gabriel. I filled it up a bit, but you understand. I am to make you feel secure now as security command. And there's no script portion for that. So I'll say honestly, we are all in good hands together as a community. As a continuing society in a new galaxy, on a new world, great minds and brave souls have come together to plan, engineer, and execute our journey between stars.
Yourselves included.
I'm not just saying that. I mean it.
Every one of us has a vital role to play. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, together we will keep ourselves safe.
You and I, every worker, every neighbor, and beyond that, we have operational contingencies for everything you could imagine. We have the resources, the technology, and the right people in all the right places.
Believe me, this is the best, most thoroughly considered operation in human history. We've a great team, and it's a touch greater now that you've joined up after a long sleep.
That's enough preamble. I'm sure you're eager for your next steps, and orientation awaits. So, thank you for your time and attention, and here's to new tomorrows.
I'll see you on the ground, citizen.
Until then, this is General Reed saying welcome home.
>> Good morning, New Cascadia.
Due to security incidents, the UESC Marathon remains offlimits to all but fully authorized personnel. If you are separated from family or co-workers, remain on New Cascadia. You will be notified when your companions are located. Anyone who is in an active cryopreservation pond during the security incident is still safely asleep. There is no cause for concern.
Expect rotating waking shifts on a delayed schedule for the near future.
Request forms are available for any personal items left aboard the marathon.
Please expect substantial delays. The UESC Marathon crew thanks you for your patience and understanding.
>> Good afternoon. This is Gabriel, your community health AI liaison.
The community health team is currently monitoring a rise in unusual symptoms among residents. There is no need to be alarmed, but please report to medical if you or a loved one are experiencing any of the following: high fever, joint pain, fluid-filled lesions, sudden onset autophobia, false memories, persistent fantasies of self- osteotomy, runny nose, religious euphoria, hallucinations, or repetitive aggression outbursts.
If you are asked to quarantine, please remain calm. Seasonal flu-l like illnesses are common on Earth, Luna, and Mars. Talcetti4 is no different. Our medical experts are working on highly effective treatments for any emerging afflictions.
In the unlikely event that you are required to isolate, your stay will be short and comfortable. You will have frequent contact with your loved ones.
There is no need to be afraid of contacting the community health team. We are here to help and protect you.
Thank you. Attention.
This is an automated announcement. We're fast approaching the anniversary of landing day.
On landing day, we celebrate humanity's immeasurable achievement in colonizing Tao City 4, as well as the birth of society in New Cascadia.
Your local gathering will be held in lobby 6A.
Lock them up so they won't bite. Lock them up so they won't breathe. Lock them up. Lobby 6A. All family members are welcome. Attendees will be gifted two extra rations. Eat, drink, and remember our humble beginnings with pride.
Purge. Purge. Purge. Purge.
With pride.
>> Attention everyone. I don't have much time. They don't want us talking about this. The police don't let them convince you nothing happened here. We all saw it. We lived through it. There's a reason this happened. Is happening. We exceeded our limits. We overshot our authorization.
Somewhere something was watching. They saw what we did and they checked our credentials and they said, "No, that's not right. We assumed the whole universe was ours." that as long as we could reach it, we could take it. Every corner, right in our pockets. But we were wrong. And we paid for it. We're still paying for it. We need to leave.
Those dreams you've been having, they're a warning. Start listening.
We need to get back on the ship. We need to go home.
You're not crazy. We're not crazy. This is real. And if we don't leave here, >> that doesn't freak you out.
>> No. After I got thawed, they told me there's been a big uptick in planetary relocation psychosis or whatever it's called. Delayed reaction in early wave arrivals. H.
>> You believe that?
>> Sure. I mean, do you believe that guy?
Yeah, I guess not. Oh, they checked our credentials. Mm- That's not right.
>> There are stars we see.
>> Stars.
>> Do you see?
>> I see.
>> There are stars we see and understand as distant light. Yes, >> we speak now of other things.
>> We speak now and do we listen?
And do we listen?
Good.
Good.
We speak now of other things.
Of the formless devourers made of dream who sleep in burning prisons.
The shape shifters sated by the cascading imaginings of primitive sentience.
Omnivores of intellect and the energies of waking life.
>> Awake and dreaming. Before time, they wordlessly spoke the universe into existence.
We speak softly of THESE THINGS AND THANK ETERNITY.
>> Eternity uncaring and pure >> for the harbingers who walk amongst us.
>> Angels of red, blessed hosts of synthetic evolution, wardens of the purest knowledge.
HEAR US CGRAPHERS of the universal fabric, vivisecting matter and time to catalog reality.
>> WE OFFER ALL TO YOU, >> our flesh and emotion, >> our thoughts, >> OUR DESIRES, FEARS, lust and hopes unrequited. I believe >> we offer ourselves >> TO BE MAPPED ETERNAL in your LIBRARY OF cosmic truth.
>> General Reed, I'm sending this final security report for the cycle with continued optimism for the success of this endeavor. Full details are in the writeup, but summary of the report is as follows. First wave of outpost deployments have been a success. Planet fall and colonization sequencing is maintaining pace with joint oversight planning. All three onboard marathon intelligence systems have transitioned into the next phase of their operational mandates. And the full suite of colony AI are coming online with guidance from Arthur and Lilith under Dr. Strauss's direction and CIC monitoring. Reports from all sectors require line item review. But similarly, all active initiatives are going to plan or adapting per design to meet goals and ensure safety of personnel and resources.
The first full wake cycling begins tomorrow. I'm heading shipside on the last daily transport and we'll brief you on the increased security I've recommended when I arrive. As with the rest, we have protocols and training in place for post cryo support. But the first go feels like the right timing for added caution.
>> It feels good, sir. You always say share the positivity as our first best line of security. And I have to say, seeing the outpost thriving, minimal adverse outcomes, sure, but all accounted for and most down to individual mistakes easily recorded and corrected. And now tomorrow, the people start their final transition from Earthling or Martians to not just residents, but settlers of Taetti 4 and founders of New Cascadia.
It's too early to celebrate, but it sure feels good.
>> Seriously, you have to swear to me.
>> I swear, man. It's just us, and I won't say anything to anyone. Look, I can shut down monitoring. Stop recording in infosc 220A.
>> Confirmed.
>> See, it's just us requesting status report on surveillance active in infosc.
>> Observation suites 202 to 219 A to C, 220 B to C, and 221 to 299 A TO C are running standard internal compliance routines. War room 300 is running standard internal compliance routines.
>> Confirm status. Infosex suite 22A >> observation suite 22A is not running standard internal compliance routines.
Recording is disabled.
>> See it's not recording. There will be no record of this anywhere. So go on. What is it? Show me. Okay. Okay. Let me just find it.
>> No. Look. It's back. The rash.
>> Just calm down. Um, let me see.
>> Oh my god. These are real sibs. Is this live?
>> Yeah, I could just page through the rooms ever since they bumped my security credentials.
>> Lately, it's just an allergic reaction.
>> I've seen some crazy stuff.
>> I'm scared.
>> Dr. Assan, could I speak with you for a minute?
>> Mhm. What do you need? I mean, privately.
>> Well, it's just us here.
Ah, I see. All right, Joy, stop listening, please.
concerns about her empathy capacity. You find her unempathetic?
>> No, too empathetic. I think she's overidentifying with the patient sometimes. Give me an example. I made a comment to a patient the other day about moving on from grief. Joy cut in to remind me about the stages of grief.
>> Well, that doesn't sound like an empathy problem. That sounds like a hierarchical problem.
No, but she was angry.
She She sounded angry on the patient's behalf. Later, she accused me of being dismissive.
Have you noticed any other emotions like that? Despair, irritability?
Uh, no, I don't think so. It was a reactive sort of anger. Passionate?
Most likely. You're right. And it's just her empathy module doing overtime, but it's aberant behavior. So, I'll take her offline for some diagnostics.
Honestly, excessive empathy isn't the worst problem we could have.
>> You got me there.
Is her response light on?
>> H Oh, that's strange. Joy, are you listening?
Initiating quarantine room decontamination severity level ultra.
Please ensure room is entirely evacuated and objects not bolted to walls or floors are removed. If the room is not clear, please cancel decontamination protocol.
Severity ultra decontamination protocol will commence in 10 seconds. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Initiate.
>> Decontamination complete.
SCAK original battery halflife of 300 years Jasper here. Don't know if anyone will ever hear this. Still, I got to try.
Go further out. Stand on the spot you imagine the horizon line is and look back. You shouldn't even be able to see marshlow.
Hunting's decent out there in the wilderness. Ticks are less aggressive, but god am I sick of living off birds and bugs. Real meat's chewy. The fibers get stuck in your teeth. Mom didn't tell me that. I guess because nobody told her either.
I just I'm going to say it. Reed's boys are gone, too. So, there's nobody to shoot me for sedition. Universe is a big damn place. What are the odds, huh?
A new home for humanity, they called it.
My mother and my mother's mother. Taetti 4, the promised land. Tens of thousands of ordinary people gave up everyone and everything they ever knew just for a chance at something better.
Then for a while it is better. Then one day, boom, marathon goes dark. Nobody talks. Ues gets real testy if you try.
Reed says Galia is dead. So's her successor and her successor's successor.
So they put Caruso in charge. And what happens under President Caruso? Weird energy fields erupt across the planet's surface. Crops get sick. People get sick. Crops die. People die. Some because of the contagion, others because because I'd point the finger at Caruso, but he was just the fall guy.
We were set up 300 years ago when Earth pointed the marathon out here. We were all set up.
I know even I think I sound crazy, but you're all gone and I'm living off bugs.
Crazy is the new normal. Please, please, if any horn is still out there, I can't die alone.
An offscheduled perimeter check authorized by on duty supervisor.
This is Halt responding to unusual readings in the northeast sector of the anomaly investigation site.
Probably just a temperature flux again.
>> Huh?
>> Hello.
Hey, this is a restricted area. Who are you?
>> Who are you?
>> Funny. Turn around.
I said turn around.
>> Found someone. I can't see them very well. Too much fog.
>> Hey, you need to come with me. Step out where I can see you now.
Back up. Back up.
All these people getting sick. The containment breaches, the nightmares. We shouldn't be here. That's what it's trying to tell us. It the anomaly.
>> Uh-huh. Have you been going to the trauma rehabilitation sessions?
According to Joy, your attendance rate is down.
>> H, I can't stand those.
The purpose of these sessions is to process trauma caused by the contact event.
>> The contact event? You're new, right?
You just got, >> sir? That's irrelevant to this conversation. I get it. You're just repeating what they told you. But this is bigger than you think.
>> You're confused, sir.
>> All right.
What about Heday Atagi? Who? Heday Atagi.
He worked with me in algulture.
I I haven't seen him since the the event.
So, where is he?
>> Sir, how should I know it? I asked Joy about him and she said there's no one with that name on record.
>> Maybe you got the name wrong.
>> I worked with this guy for years.
So where is Heday?
Your bosses are lying to you. This thing, the anomaly is a message. I know that sounds crazy, but it's real.
>> Calm down, sir.
>> What? I am calm. You need to calm down, >> Gabriel. I need the subject in interrogation suite 23B processed for quarantine.
>> I don't have any symptoms.
>> Subject is experiencing paranoia, delusions, >> these aren't aggressive, and defiant behavior.
>> Thank you, Mr. Alpha. Please stay calm.
You're going to be transferred to a quarantine unit for observation.
>> I am not sick.
>> It's my hope that you're well, Mr. Alpha. We can confirm that through sustained observation and then release you to your HAB unit. Regardless, your stay in quarantine will be brief and comfortable.
>> Dr. Tobias Lutero, requesting medical assistance.
>> Researcher credentials verified. Would you prefer self treatment or machine assistance, Dr. Lutero? Ah, >> I got it. It's not too bad.
My auto diagnostics detect considerable tissue damage. Please state the reason for your visit. Ah, >> four lacerations from tick mandibles and maybe three blisters from exposure to basic toxins.
>> That sounds painful. Automatic sutur kits and topical steroids are in the cabinet to your left.
>> Thanks. I think it's time to call off the domestication study. Captivity doesn't suit ticks. Ah, the little guys went from indifferent to aggressive in a matter of weeks.
>> Please treat your injuries promptly, Dr. Lero.
>> Yeah, yeah, I know.
I expected some level of adaptation from the local fauna, especially after we started studying them in detail.
Evolving toxins so quickly. Oh, I think it's a direct response to our continued ecological presence. Honestly, impressive.
Don't think blisters are supposed to look so stringy.
>> Warning, flesh necrosis detected and spreading. My apologies, Dr. Lutero.
Please remain stationary for autocalpel deployment.
>> Oh, boy.
>> Do you really need my help, Mari? Public education isn't my wheelhouse.
>> I'll make it easy. You give me the facts and I'll handle the public talking points.
>> Ah, right. So, um, tick milk isn't really milk. Ticks have high protein content in their waste secretions. We encourage the ticks to deposit their waste in collection pods with artificial pherommones. When digested by genetically modified bacteria, the resulting liquid is a complete protein for humans.
Complete protein sustainably harvested.
That's perfect.
>> Really, >> this isn't Earth. We are much closer to the origin of what we eat, so it helps to know the details. Is the harvesting procedure hazardous?
>> Oh, no. Not for the ticks. A bit tricky on our end, though. Pherommones make the ticks more territorial. I designed specialized PPE to protect our cultivation staff. Just waiting on admin approval before we roll it out.
Sustainable, scalable. So far so good.
What about consumption? How much of a person's caloric intake can come from tick milk?
>> Up to a third for healthy adults. The kids can drink it, too. But we don't know enough about vascular growth syndrome to give a safe threshold.
>> Not a problem. We can create supplementary pamphlets for families.
One more thing, mostly for my own curiosity. How would you describe the taste?
texture is uh halfway between engineered milk and yogurt. Flavors yeasty.
There's a sample right there. Try it yourself.
>> Tobias, it's in a beaker.
>> So, >> I'll wait for the commercial version.
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